In the Nation

Posted: March 11, 2012

A rocky journey ends at museum

LOS ANGELES - After an arduous, 105-mile journey from a dusty, remote Riverside quarry to the cultural heart of the Mid-Wilshire district, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's now-famous 340-ton granite boulder arrived safely at its new home before dawn Saturday.

It took 11 cold and grueling nights on the road navigating tight corners, "crabbing" across bridges and narrowly avoiding collisions with utility poles, but the monolith arrived at 4:25 a.m. local time, illuminated by string lights and resting in a steel sling on its custom transporter.

Journalists from around the world and hundreds of onlookers turned out. LACMA Director Michael Govan stood in the center of Wilshire Boulevard, gazing up at the rock. "It looks a lot bigger in the city than it did in the quarry," he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

The boulder might have arrived at the museum several hours earlier if it weren't for continuous holdups caused by illegally parked cars along Wilshire that needed to be towed away. Remarkably, considering the logistical challenges involved in moving a nearly two-story-high chunk of granite through densely populated urban areas, there were no major hang-ups.

- Los Angeles Times

Wash. lawmaker resigning to run

SEATTLE - Rep. Jay Inslee announced Saturday that he would resign from Congress to focus full time on running for governor of Washington state this fall.

Inslee, a Democrat, is in his eighth term representing a Seattle-area district in the House. Washington's Democratic governor, Christine Gregoire, is retiring at the end of her term. Inslee is running against Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna to replace her.

Inslee's First District seat will remain vacant until November. He is among 22 Democratic members of the House who are not seeking reelection, along with 16 Republicans. His resignation is effective March 20. - AP

Four fishermen missing off Wash.

ASTORIA, Ore. - Authorities said they would search throughout the night Saturday for four people who disappeared from a fishing trawler.

A distress beacon led U.S. Coast Guard crews to a debris field and an oil sheen several miles off the Washington coast. In the debris field was a damaged, empty lifeboat.

The distress signal came early Saturday from the 70-foot Lady Cecelia, which has a home port in Warrenton, Ore. The Coast Guard dispatched two helicopters, two boats and a C-130 search aircraft, as well as the 225-foot cutter Fir. - AP

Elsewhere:

For about a week, Hawaii's famous sunny weather has been replaced with thunderstorms, large pieces of hail, and the arrival of what weather officials say was the first tornado in four years to hit the islands. A 30-minute hailstorm Friday over windward Oahu was "unprecedented," said Tom Birchard, senior meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Honolulu.